


Foresight

by YaeL (thesometimeswarrior)



Series: Rabbis. In. SPACE! [2]
Category: Zionist Galactic Federation (Tumblr), תלמוד | Talmud
Genre: (kind of), Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Dubious Ethics, Ficlet, Gen, Leadership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/YaeL
Summary: "Your people! You all left Earth a generation ago! While the rest of us waited….until...until….” He closes his eyes, seems to change course. “How did you allknowwhat would happen?”“Let’s just say that we have gottenverygood at reading the writing on the walls, over the ages.”A swallow, a pause. Then: “I…But how did you all find thestrength?”“It’s not a question ofstrength,” Gamaliel retorts.
Series: Rabbis. In. SPACE! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630225
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	Foresight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Treon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treon/gifts).



> I'm not entirely sure whether or not this takes place in exactly the same universe as yesterday's piece, but it seems like it _could_ , so...
> 
> Enjoy!

Despite himself, Gamaliel can’t help but find the man before him familiar. 

It’s the posture that strikes him, makes him think of Yohanan—at least in the way that he seems to seems to buckle under the weight of his uncertainty while at the same time trying to force his spine straight and therefore certain. 

But then Gamaliel chastises himself, shakes his head as if to rid himself of the notion. Domitian isn’t like _Yohanan_. He _can’t_ be. To say that he is would undermine—even be an _insult_ to—Yohanan’s memory…

“Thank you for agreeing to see me,” Domitian says, with all the gravitas of a man unused to humility.

Gamaliel raises an eyebrow, hangs his silence in lieu of a response. There’s a catharsis in not answering, in sitting silent on his chair, while Domitian stands, humbles himself in his desperation, has to answer _silence_ …

Domitian shifts on his feet. “I…I wanted to speak with you because I wanted—I _needed_ —to ask your advice.”

“Why would my _humble_ advice be of any use to an _Emperor_?” 

If Domitian comprehends the irony in Gamaliel’s voice, he ignores it. “Because you’ve been doing this longer! You’ve—”

“Not _I_. I only became the Nasi last—”

“You know what I mean! Your people! You all left Earth a generation ago! While the rest of us waited….until... _until_ ….” He closes his eyes, seems to change course. “How did you all _know_ what would happen?”

“Let’s just say that we have gotten _very_ good at reading the writing on the walls, over the ages.”

Domitian seems to catch his meaning. Opens his eyes, and creases his eyebrows. When he speaks, his voice is scarcely louder than a whisper. “ _We_ didn’t do this to you!”

“Not _this_ time.”

A swallow, a pause. Then: “I…But how did you all find the _strength_?”

“It’s not a question of _strength_ ,” Gamaliel retorts. “It’s one of _foresight_. And once you have that, once you can clearly visualize the outcome that would result if you were to do nothing—if you were to avoid taking drastic measures—it simply becomes a question of weighing the two options. Deciding which is the lesser of two evils.”

It’s more than he’d intended to say, but Gamaliel finds that he doesn’t regret it, especially when he sees the expression in Domitian’s eyes. 

“And…And your people? They all followed you because they too had this… _foresight_?” And before Gamaliel can respond, the Emperor continues. “Or, I suppose, it wasn’t _you_ , was it, that they followed. It would have been—what was his name? Yohanan?”

“Yes.” Gamaliel grits his teeth. “Yohanan.”

“Because they too could—what is it you said?— _read the writing on the walls_?”

“Because _he_ could. And they trusted _him_. Loved _him_.”

Domitian senses something in Gamaliel’s gaze, then, and his own expression changes. Seems to settle into that pejorative disdain that used to come so naturally to him, and it seems as though it’s almost a relief. As though, if he can condescend, the so-called natural order is restored, and despite the fact that they’re floating far above any planetary bodies, he finally has ground to stand on again. And when he asks his next question, he does so with the ironic air of a man who already knows the answer. 

“And you, oh Nasi? Do they _love_ you?”

“I see to it that they… _respect_ me.”

“But it’s not the same.”

“It’s enough.”

“ _Is_ it?”

“It’s better than the alternative! Them all going their separate ways because they disagree on customs, and then we all _die_ in the cold vacuum of Space, because it is impossible to exist out here alone! I put my foot down, I force them to accept my authority and my judgements even when they disagree, and they may resent me, but they do what I say. And then we all stay together and live to see another Cycle!”

“But wouldn’t you rather be _loved_? Like Yohanan?”

Gamaliel forces his spine to the be straight. Stands, as if to lend credibility to his statement. “Not at the expense of their lives. _All_ of our lives.”

“It must be lonely.”

“It is…” He sighs, puts his hands behind his back, and paces past Domitian to the window, gazes out at the black vastness beyond their infinitesimal station. In the distance, stars glimmer, but they’re far, so far away. “The lesser of evils.”

**Author's Note:**

> A quick note: This isn't meant to draw on any one particular narrative about Rabban Gamaliel, so much as it is meant to draw on a picture of his character from several different narratives throughout the Talmud. There is also mention of Rabban Gamaliel meeting with the Roman Emperor (whom many historians believe to be the Emperor Domitian), but not in any circumstance like this, and the conversations as recounted in the Talmud didn't go anything like this one. Still, it felt like a good jumping off point!
> 
> Also, _Nasi_ (lit. "Prince") was the title for the head of the Sanhedrin and therefore the Jewish Community in Talmudic times.
> 
> \--
> 
> And now for the image!
> 
> (A classical--if whitewashed--depiction of Rabban Gamaliel...but in a space helmet.)


End file.
